Stuck in Washington, 2020 Democratic Senators Send Family, Ocasio-Cortez to Barnstorm Iowa

👤Bernie Sanders scrapped Iowa campaign appearances, 👤Amy klobuchar sent campaign representatives to “hot dish” dinners and 👤Elizabeth Warren planned a remote video speech as the Democratic U.S. senators running for president got stuck in Washington for Donald Trump’s ⚖️Impeachment trial.

Sanders’ campaign was the first to reschedule events, announcing on Tuesday that progressive firebrand U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC, would replace him at two rallies in the crucial early nominating state of Iowa while he serves as a juror during the Republican president’s trial in the Senate.

All four Democratic senators running for their party’s nomination to unseat Trump in November’s election – including Michael Bennet of Colorado – must now divert their efforts from the campaign trail for six-day workweeks during the proceedings.

Each is trying to offset the wrinkle in plans by deploying prominent supporters and scheduling intense weekend trips ahead of the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses, where retail politicking helps motivate voters to go out on a frigid winter evening to stand up for a candidate.

“Some of you are upset because you should be in Iowa now,” Trump’s White House lawyer, Pat Cipollone, said during his opening remarks in the Senate on Tuesday.

Some Iowa political experts say Klobuchar, a senator from Minnesota whose campaign received an unexpected boost over the holiday weekend when she and Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, received endorsements from the New York Times, could suffer more than some others because she is less well-known.